Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Thara, Mandodari thatha,
Panchakanya smaren nithyam maha pathaka nasanam
Even though this Panchakanya shloka composed of five women characters from popular Hindu mythologies바카라presumably evoked to dispel sin바카라gives space to Mandodari, little is written about the 바카라Queen of Lanka바카라. While different Ramayanas across space and time refer to Mandodari as the wife of king Ravana, her agency as a queen has always been denied.
Who is Mandodari? Is she just the beautiful wife with a slanted waist as the meaning of her name suggests? Or, is she the moral fulcrum of a nation that was facing an onslaught due to its ruler바카라s masculine ego and ideological bankruptcy?
Since the days of Valmiki Ramayana, the birth of Mandodari has been a contested instance. According to Valmiki Ramayana, which has been echoed by several others in the following era, her birth was connected to Madhura, an apsara, who fell in love with Lord Shiva and wanted to marry him.
Infuriated by this immoral transgression, Shiva바카라s wife Parvati turned her into a frog. Shiva바카라known as the most merciful바카라 nullified the curse and told her that she would reincarnate as a beautiful woman and would get married to a valorous king. Consequently, the asura king Mayasura and his wife Hema found her in a well and 바카라Mandodari바카라 was born.
However, some accounts refer to her as a nymph who came down from heaven with the sole purpose of destroying Ravana. Notably, a few mythologists even note that Ravana received Lanka as a dowry from Mandodari바카라s father Mayasura. So, the role of Mandodari in the Ramayana lies far beyond an objectified beautiful woman. A deep dive into different representations unveils different shades of her characters바카라 sometimes virtuous, and at other times, complicit in crime to safeguard the nation.
Varsha Adalja바카라s Gujarati play titled Mandodari reworks the 바카라pativrata바카라 (dutiful wife) myth and brings out the queen who was well aware of the politics of the time. Here, Mandodari is found in a different role.
When Kaaldevata (Lord of death) comes to her declaring his intention to destroy Lanka; instead of being torn between her designated roles as the 바카라Consort of the Asura King바카라 and the 바카라Queen of the state바카라바카라she chose to be the latter and vows to save the country. Challenging Kaaldevata바카라s 바카라game of deception바카라, she invents the 바카라Chaturanga바카라 (modern chess) and allegorically says: 바카라You may be aware, lord, that I have invented a game that can be played with pawns.바카라
However, against the binary of Kshatriya masculinity and Brahminical femininity, Adalja바카라s play, through its protagonist, inflicts a scathing attack on Ravana바카라s fragile male ego. Mandodari warns Ravana of the consequences of keeping Sita and reminds him of his fallibility: 바카라This is the same Sita who used to play with Mahadev바카라s bow that you couldn바카라t even lift, remember?바카라 Her reference to Sita바카라s swayamvara doesn바카라t invoke Rama바카라s supremacy as a protector; rather it talks about Sita바카라s prowess that the asura king should be feared of.
In front of the lord of death, Mandodari is found to be unfazed. Getting to know about the imminent and inevitable destruction of Lanka, she says: 바카라I am Ravana바카라s wife and also his war strategist. I am well-versed in Saam, Daam, Danda and Bheda.바카라 So, on the one hand, she tries to make Ravana aware of his limits, and on the other, she readies herself to protect the 바카라prosperity, unity and morality바카라 of the land.
Her assertion of the Asura identity against the projected supremacism of the Aryan race gets a new meaning when she reminds Sita of the historical oppression that the women of their tribes have been subjected to through the centuries.
When Sita asks her whether Asuras respect women at all, Mandodari responds: 바카라When the victorious kings confiscate kingdoms, don바카라t they also take the womenfolk of the defeated kings? The gods keep apsaras for enjoyment. Your father-in-law has several queens바카라. This statement not only strips the Aryans of any moral high ground, it also challenges their condescending attitude toward asuras.
However, the 바카라queen바카라 Mandodari comes out more vibrantly in Manini J. Anandani바카라s book Mandodari: Queen of Lanka as she marries Vibhishana, after the death of Ravana, out of 바카라political necessity바카라. 바카라My marriage with Vibhishana was a political necessity. Thinking about Dashaanan바카라s many wives that I had envied and he had claimed to be 바카라political necessities바카라 made me laugh now. For the first time, I was a queen before I was a wife,바카라 says the queen.
While several versions of the Ramayana end in Yuddha Kanda where Rama and Sita come back from exile, Manini transcends it to explore the possibility of Mandodari바카라s life after Ravana바카라s death. Some versions say that Rama convinced Vibhishan to marry Mandodari so that the people of Lanka accept him as the king, but there is no reference to this episode in Valmiki바카라s version or any mainstream version of the Ramayana.
바카라I wanted to give prominence to Mandodari바카라s voice in my retelling and wanted the readers to peruse her individualistic character instead of merely being referred to as 바카라Ravana바카라s wife.바카라 After all, she had her own identity and she reigned as the Queen of Lanka even after Ravana바카라s death,바카라 says Manini.
Referring to Mandodari바카라s efforts to restrain Ravana from engaging in war, author and peacebuilder Urmi Chanda says: 바카라In some versions, it is she who stops Ravana from killing Sita and asks him to make do with other wives, and elsewhere she asks Vibhishana to side with Rama which shows her righteousness. She may be labelled as weak or disloyal for these actions, but sometimes peace is a path paved with many compromises, especially of one바카라s ego.바카라
Within the bounds of patriarchal and royal limitations, Mandodari exercises her agency in the best ways possible with peace as an intention. In a hyper-masculine story about guts and glory, a woman trying to step in for peace, justice and reconciliation, is a welcome change, she adds.
Even after playing such crucial political roles, why has Mandodari always been sidelined, even in retellings? Koral Dasgupta, the author of the Sati series that gives perspectives to different mythological women characters, says: 바카라Very little is available about Mandodari in the Ramayana. It shows that she was a practical, farsighted, loyal, and righteous queen. I am not surprised. The villain바카라s wife is not important in a story unless she is an accused or a victim in the core plot.바카라
The silence looms large when anybody tries to examine Mandodari바카라s cognitive perception. In the words of Manini: 바카라In most of the versions, she has been portrayed as stoic in chaotic situations. I simply think, as a society, we were so focused on deifying the central male characters that somewhere we may have neglected the female characters of the epic.바카라
Against this backdrop, more feminist readings and imaginations of Mandodari are necessary to read between the lines. As Chanda says, with time, the audiences of the thousands of Ramayanas want to 바카라see her queenliness to grow바카라.
Beyond the image of pativrata, the virtuous wife who envied Sita, Mandodari needs to be restored to her own Kingdom바카라 perhaps as the lost queen.
(This appeared in the print as 'The Lost Queen')
